''Chorizanthe rectispina'' is a species of flowering plant in the

buckwheat family The Polygonaceae are a family of flowering plants known informally as the knotweed family or smartweed—buckwheat family in the United States. The name is based on the genus ''Polygonum'', and was first used by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in 1789 ...

known by the common names prickly spineflower and straight-awned spineflower. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, where it is known from about twenty occurrences from

Monterey Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under both ...

to Santa Barbara Counties.California Native Plant Society Rare Plant Profile
/ref> It grows in dry habitat types such as

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

and woodland in the hills of the Central Coast Ranges. It is a low, spreading plant with stems up to about 25 centimeters long, grayish to greenish in color and hairy in texture. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a cluster of flowers, each flower surrounded by six hairy

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s which are grayish to pink in color and tipped with awns. One bract is longer than the others and has a straight awn, and the other smaller bracts may have hooked awns. The tiny flower at the center of the bract array is a few millimeters wide and white and yellow in color.

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
rectispina Endemic flora of California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of Monterey County, California Natural history of San Luis Obispo County, California Natural history of Santa Barbara County, California ~ Plants described in 1934 Critically endangered flora of California {{Polygonaceae-stub